§ Mr. Malcolm MacPhersonasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs how many new appointments were made to the Senior Branch of the Foreign Service in each of the years 1955, 1956, 1957, and 1958; and, respectively, for each year, of what universities those appointed were graduates.
§ Mr. R. AllanThe following table gives the information for which the hon. Member asks:
99W
§ Mr. Malcolm MacPhersonasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs how many new appointments were made to the Senior Branch of the Foreign Service in each of the years from 1946 to 1958, inclusive, from candidates over the normal age; and how many such candidates applied in each year.
§ Mr. R. AllanFrom 1946 to 1949 recruitment to the Senior Branch of the Foreign Service was very largely by means of the post-war Reconstruction Competition. Most of the successful candidates had previously done war service and were over the normal peace-time upper age limit of 24. Annual open competitions with an upper age limit of 24 began in 1948. From 1950 onwards (except in 1952) there were annual supplementary over age competitions for candidates above the age of 24. There were also transfers to the Senior Branch of established members of Branch B of the Foreign Service.
100WIt is therefore appropriate to consider the average figures only from 1950 onwards. The following table gives the information requested for those years:
Date Supplementary (Overage) Competitions Transfers from Branch B to the Senior Branch Number of Applications Appointments to the Foreign Service 1950 383 4 2 1951 273 3 2 1952 No competition — 3 1953 422 8 3 1954 253 5 4 1955 139 12 2 1956 93 2 4 1957 108 4 6 1958 96 2 5 TOTALS 1,767 39 31